


Finding Polaris

by purple_cube



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Gen, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-08
Updated: 2014-07-08
Packaged: 2018-02-08 00:44:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1920270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purple_cube/pseuds/purple_cube
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Star Squad leaves for the Capitol without her, Johanna finds companionship in another rebel left behind in District 13.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finding Polaris

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a request on Tumblr for Haymitch and Johanna, and the line "please stay". Set during Mockingjay, after Johanna fails the simulated combat test.

 

 

He shows up at the infirmary only after the assault teams have left for the Capitol.

 

“Nice to know where I stand on your list of priorities,” Johanna snaps. “I’ve been stuck here for nearly a week now.”

 

“Sorry, sweetheart,” Haymitch replies, grinning at the scowl he receives.

 

“Call me that again, and I’ll –“

 

“I don’t think you’re in any position to be making threats,” he interrupts as he drops into the plastic chair by her bed. “Do you?”

 

She clicks her tongue against the roof of her mouth, not willing to concede just yet. “I’ll be out of here soon enough.”

 

That earns her an honest smile. “Yeah. You will.”

 

They spend the rest of the evening discussing the slow progress of their squads in the Capitol. But he also informs her that all of the districts except for 2 are in rebel command, and it’s the first time that she allows herself to think beyond the immediate future.

 

“We could actually win this, couldn’t we?”

 

He huffs in amusement. “Yeah, we could. Bet you never thought this day would come.”

 

“I _did_. I just didn’t think I’d be alive to see it,” she adds quietly, almost to herself.

 

He reaches out to squeeze her hand, and a throwaway comment is on the tip of her tongue. _Don’t get fucking sentimental on me now._ But something tells her to hold it back – and instead tighten her fingers around his.

 

Later, when she’s alone and the lights have faded to signify the late hour, she thinks about his words. If she’s honest, she really _hadn’t_ thought that this day would arrive. Not when a drunken Haymitch had let slip about the possibility of rebellion all those years ago. Not even when Plutarch had revealed his plan to get them all out of the arena – she had always known that it wasn’t going to work as well as he had intended. But now, with almost every district out of Snow’s hands, they actually stand a chance.

 

The door opens to reveal one of the nurses on her final ward round. “Nice of Haymitch to come back again, isn’t it?” she comments with a saccharine smile.

 

_Again?_

 “What do you mean?”

 

“I was on the night shift last week,” she continues as she glances at Johanna’s chart. “He sat in that chair beside you every single night.”

 

_Oh_.

 

She tunes out the rest of the one-sided conversation until she’s left alone again. Sleep brings a myriad of faces along for the ride – her parents, her brother, even her district partner from the first Games.

 

When she wakes, Haymitch is by her side, looking like he’s about to doze off himself.

 

“Why are you wasting your nights watching me sleep, old man? One of your strange little kinks, is it?”

 

He laughs heartily at that, and she soon finds herself smiling along with him.

 

He gives her an honest answer when his mood sobers. “You know I’m not one for sleeping during the night. Not that it makes much of a difference in this place,” he adds with a snort, “Where there’s no daylight to speak of.”

 

She shrugs. “Could be a good time to try a new routine.”

 

He shakes his head. “Thought about it, but it’s still too quiet at night. At least during the day there’s enough background noise to know I’m not…well, you know.”

 

She does. She knows that you need _something_ to keep you anchored to this world, to stop the demons from dragging you back into the arena every time you close your eyes.

 

“How’s things in the Capitol?” she asks instead. “Snow dead yet?”

 

Haymitch sighs heavily. “I don’t know.”

 

He looks so worried that she has to ask. “What’s wrong?”

 

“Coin sent Peeta there.”

 

She frowns, thinking of the last time she saw the boy, and the way he had argued with himself in the dining hall. “Is he well enough?”

 

“No. That’s the problem.”

 

“Then get on the phone and mentor your damn tributes before they kill each other,” she says as if it’s the simplest thing in the world.

 

And maybe it is, because he smacks a fist down onto his knee before getting to his feet. “You’re right.”

 

On impulse, she finds herself reaching for him before he can retreat. Her fingers brush his wrist, and he turns his head back towards her.

 

“Come back?”

 

She can’t bring herself to look at him, to see pity in his eyes. But when he doesn’t react, she forces her gaze upward. His expression certainly isn’t one of pity, but does hold something that she can’t quite place. There is a softness that she can’t recall seeing before.

 

His lips press into a small but sincere smile as he gives her a short nod. “Sure.”

 

Later, after he returns and sleep begins to take them both, she reaches for him again. “Please stay,” she asks lazily, eyelids already drooping.

 

He doesn’t respond, but she deciphers rustling sounds to indicate that he’s making himself comfortable in his seat.

 

Throughout the night, his labored breaths keep her anchored to reality, and in the morning, when his gray eyes seem to shine that little bit brighter, she wonders if she had provided the same kind of comfort for him.

 

 


End file.
